A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



prior of Andover, the right to present a fit 

 person for the perpetual vicarage of St. Mary, 

 Andover, to the abbot of St. Florent, to which 

 the priory was subject, to be by him presented 

 to the bishop ; but that as the vicarage had been 

 long void, and as on account of the disturb- 

 ance of the realm the prior (who was non- 

 resident and an Italian) had had no notice of 

 the voidance, so that neither he nor the abbot 

 could present, the said prior and abbot were 

 licensed to present a fit person within six 

 months from the time that the prior was 

 aware of the voidance of the vicarage ; any 

 collation, provision or investiture of any 

 ordinary notwithstanding. 1 



In 1294, when the priory of Andover was 

 seized by Edward I., it was found that the 

 prior's messuage and dovecot within the pre- 

 cincts were worth 5*. a year, and 48 acres of 

 lands 245., and 12 acres of meadow I2d. 

 Rents from diverse tenements realized 68*., 

 and the tithes of the church 66 13*. 4^. 

 The total annual value came to ji i8s. \d? 



On 22 October, 1 305, Robert de Combor, 

 a monk of St. Florent, was instituted to this 

 priory by Bishop Woodlock. In the previous 

 year there had been a great dispute between 

 John de St. John, prior of Andover, and 

 Robert de Combor as to the latter's violent 

 intrusion into the priory. During the 

 vacancy of the see of Winchester the matter 

 was referred to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 

 and immediately on Bishop Woodlock's ap- 

 pointment, the primate issued his mandate to 

 the bishop to execute speedy justice in this 

 quarrel. The bishop appointed the rural dean 

 of Andover to report, with the result that 

 Robert submitted, renounced all rights, and 

 was absolved. However, he was shortly 

 afterwards formally instituted, probably on 

 the resignation of Prior John. 3 



Prior John de Pomariis is mentioned in the 

 Close Rolls of 1331, where his name appears 

 in conjunction with the parson of Horncastle 

 as owing 200 marks to two merchants of 

 Florence. The amount was to be levied, in 

 default of payment, on their lands and chattels 

 in Hampshire. 4 In the following year Prior 

 John de Pomariis and his brother ecclesiastic 

 were in a yet more serious pecuniary dilemma, 

 for they owed on bonds the large sums of 

 130 to Bartholomew Richo, merchant of 

 Kerio, and 113 6f. Sd. to Asselinus Simon- 

 etti, merchant of Lucca, and Bindus Gile of 



1 Cal. of Papal Letters, i. 418. 



* Add. MS., 6164, f. 8. 



3 Winton. Epis. Reg., Woodlock, pp. I, lob, 

 etc. 



* Close, 5 Edw. III. pt. i, m. zd. 



Florence ; these debts were ordered to be 

 levied in default of payment on their lands, 

 chattels and ecclesiastical goods in the 

 county. 8 In 1334 the amounts due to the 

 merchant of Kerio were still unpaid, for in 

 that year Bartholomew Richo put in his 

 place William de Newenham, clerk, to 

 prosecute the execution of a recognisance for 

 8 1 made to him in Chancery by John de 

 Pomariis, prior of Andover, and Master Peter 

 de Galiciano, parson of Horncastle church, in 

 the diocese of Lincoln, and of another recogni- 

 zance for 50 made to Bartholomew by the 

 same prior and Peter. 8 



Andover was another of the alien houses 

 expected to keep at least one royal pensioner. 

 In November, 1333, John de Baddeley, 

 yeoman of the king's napery, by reason of his 

 good and long service, was sent to the prior 

 and convent of Andover to receive such 

 maintenance from that house for life as 

 Richard le Naper, deceased, had received at 

 the request of Edward II. 



On i October, 1337, pardon was granted 

 to Prior John de Pomariis of his outlawry in 

 Hampshire for non-appearance before Wil- 

 liam de Shareshull and his fellow justices of 

 oyer and terminer to answer touching a tres- 

 pass against the king at Winchester. 7 



The Patent Rolls of 1341 have a long 

 entry relative to the priory of Andover, which 

 is of much interest as illustrating the intricacy 

 of the dealing with alien houses. John de 

 Pomariis, the late prior, had been removed by 

 his superior, the abbot of St. Florent, to the 

 priory of Sele, Sussex, which was another cell 

 of this great house of Anjou. Prior John, in 

 a petition to the king, recited that he had held 

 the priory of Andover as well in the time of 

 Edward II. as of the present king, when the 

 alien priories were taken into the Crown's 

 hands through the war with France, without 

 fine or farm, because he was born of the 

 duchy of Acquitaine, and was not of affinity 

 or confederacy with the king's enemies ; he 

 therefore asked that as he had been removed 

 to Sele the king would order him to be dis- 

 charged of the farm of fifty marks which the 

 last prior of Sele, because he was born of the 

 power of the king's enemies, was held to 

 render. The king, because John had been 

 born of his duchy and was his liege man, and 

 because the priory of Andover had come into 

 the hands of an alien of the power of the 

 king's enemies, and had on that account been 

 taken into his hands and would remain in 



* Ibid. 6 Edw. III. mm. 38d, $6A. 



6 Ibid. 8 Edw. III. m. lod. 



7 Ibid. II Edw. III. pt. 3, m. 19. 



220 



